Sunday 30 October 2011

Another day in paradise - Phil Collins

Day 2 of this JOGLE Ultra tester and we find ourselves along the lovely A49 in Shropshire on our way to Church Stretton. Having already negotiated the clocks going backwards and a major bridge closure which was a major problem until I caught the security watchman asleep, we are now the other side of Whitchurch.

There was a two hour split on the start and they are all in good shape really. The poor trainer choice by some is being changed tomorrow by some and there are some twangy ITBs and a couple of blisters too.

But this is JOGLE Bootcamp so it's good fodder for next April's race.

No one has got to CP2 yet at Coton... but it won't be long I am sure. More from Shrewsbury...

Saturday 29 October 2011

Time - Pink Floyd

Well, it's been a great day out on the road on our JOGLE Ultra tester event. We've seen some really good running too and met some new faces to ULTRArace along the way. There were some great performances throughout the field with a great run of 8:04 for Ian Berry and a brilliant day out from a 'dark horse', Katherine Hay-Heddle. She really impressed our JOGLE Ultra Guru, David Miles.

We've had a great day too and Tarporley is a very special place along our route... tomorrow sees us heading towards Church Stretton.

Yes, there are a few blisters and achy legs but they will get there... join us tomorrow to see how they get on.

It all starts again at 6am...

Kings and Queens - 30 seconds to Mars

Well, 30 miles come and gone for speedy Ian... and nearly there for the rest of the guys as we are now clear of Warrington (not nice Charlie, sorry) and we are sat waiting at Stockton Heath on the Canal Bridge. Funnily neither I nor Slaterchops have much enthusiasm to go and do a few miles on that baby, I can tell you.

Anyway back to the boys and they are getting settled into the highs and lows of running on varying surfaces and roads. They all look in good shape actually so maybe they have been doing their homework...

We'll see later eh? More from Tarporley.

Easy - The Commodores

Yep, it's always a hard one on the first day of a JOGLE tester, just to get things right as it's far too easy to think that you are in a race and start banging in 7+mph. Hopefully,  Ian (miles out in front of the other runners'), will catch on to the rhythm of the day and get into the <6mph zone he needs to be in to get him the 868 miles from JOGtoLE next year.

As it starts to rain, we are waiting for the main pack in Platts Bridge at the 19.4 mile point. They were sharing great banter when we saw them last... Katherine is showing great stealth on her own at the back and running at her own speed, smack on pace. Nice one Katherine...

The Race - Yello

Six of our JOGLERs are with us this weekend to have a go at two days of the JOGLE Ultra course in preparation for next year's event. Katherine, Phil, Tom, Tim, Sean and Ian are running a couple of back-to-back 47 milers as a bootcamp weekend.

Jenny is out there too, wearing her (S)Hoka shoes, along with Katherine to road test 'em for the next newsletter (you can guess what I think already!).

The lambs have already fallen into the 'too fast' approach and it's a good job that David Miles, our JOGLE Ultra Veteran is here to help...

More later...